Wanna bet on IPL and yet be safe? Try the apps

Several websites and apps have come up with innovative options for those who love to gamble, though not for money but for points.

KOLKATA: Last year's betting controversy may have earned the Indian Premier League (IPL) a bad name, but several websites and mobile apps have come up with innovative betting options to entertain those who love to gamble without breaking the rules of the land, and to mint money for themselves.

Foreseegame.com, Betmockers, India-Bet, The Big Toss, Yahoo Predictopus and PlayUp India are among tech firms and startups that have launched apps and games that allow users to place bets on all the different aspects of IPL matches. And, instead of money, you win or lose points.

"Cricket is a slow game and includes a lot of strategy and this brings with it a high scope of gambling. With no money involved in these betting sites and apps, users just get to exercise and whet their expertise in predicting the fate of a game," said Devendra Pathi, chief technology officer at Cooolio, a Bangalore-based online portfolio company that launched The Big Toss app for cricket lovers.

Available on both iOS and Android platforms, this app will provide live scores and analysis besides the prediction game and other features. More than 21,000 people downloaded The Big Toss iOS App last IPL season, and an average a user spend close to 6-7 minutes on the app.

India Bet, a social betting site launched by London-based Sports Gaming in August 2012, already has 70,000 registered users, and targets to cross the 500,000 mark by the end of IPL 7 next month. George Oborne, managing director at IndiaBet. com, said the market for virtual betting is growing fast in India.

He said that unlike Europe and North America where there is a big presence of free-to-play sports betting and casino games sites, there are few such sites catering to the Indian market.

"While we were doing our ground work, we found out that lots of people in India were interested in gambling but often did not like the fact that they had to interact with illegal bookmakers to engage in it," said Oborne, who had gathered investment worth $1.5 million for starting IndiaBet.

Tabrez M Shaikh, CEO at Betmockers. com, a live virtual betting website that has 4,500 members, said that approximately 40% of Internet users in India admit to have visited a gambling website but not placed a bet. "We came up with the site because we felt there was a serious need for a platform by everybody who wants to bet and not land up in any trouble," he said.

He said the site has grown at CAGR of 200% with respect to visitors, players, page views and advertising inventory.

"This year, according to the demand we see on the top bets of the two matches on the first two days, we are looking at 40,000 visits on the website," Shaikh said. Betmockers acts like a virtual bookie to accept the user's bets and give returns on their bets if they win.

"There is also have a virtual group betting feature where one can invite friends and can see each other's bets and bet together," Shaikh said.

Not just in terms of grabbing eyeballs, monetarily too these websites and apps are doing overwhelming business, thanks to advertisers and sponsors.

With Rs 5 lakh as initial investment and expenses to the tune of Rs 1 lakh per month to run the website, Betmockers has been working with an estimated return on investment, or ROI, of 75% from the third year onwards. During the IPL, it targets to double its ad revenues.

According to Shaikh, with 36 web pages comprising of 86 ad spaces the site can look at generating at least Rs 3.5 lakh per month.

Betmockers plans to launch a mobile application soon.

IndiaBet's Oborne too expects the site's ad revenues to double by the end of IPL 7 this year. The site, which has been on cashflow positive on a month-bymonth basis since February 2013, ad revenues go up to £25,000 per month, he said. For The Big Toss, revenues come in through three channels — that of sponsors on the app, in-app advertising and in-app purchases.